Le r?le des interactions mère-enfant et de la dépression maternelle à l'age préscolaire dans la prédiction de l'attachement de l'enfant à l'age scolaire.

Examined the contribution of mother–child partnership and maternal depression during the preschool period to the prediction of the child's attachment classification at early school-age in 91 French-Canadian children. Mother–child interactions were observed during a collaborative task using a scale measuring synchronized and reciprocal social-affective exchanges in the mother-child partnership (age 3–5 yrs). Maternal depression was assessed during the same lab visit using the Beck Depression Inventory. At a second lab visit (age 5–7 yrs), attachment classifications were assigned on the basis of reunion behaviour. A discriminant function analysis showed that reciprocal mother–child partnerships in the absence of maternal depressive symptom predicted security of attachment two years later, whereas failed reciprocity in the presence of maternal depressive symptoms predicted both insecure disorganized and ambivalent attachment. Quality of prediction is high for secure, ambivalent and disorganized children, although ambivalent and disorganized children cannot be distinguished from each other. Results support the importance of mother–child interactions and maternal depression as preschool variables associated with security and insecurity of attachment at early school-age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation entre l'attachement et les interactions mère-enfant en milieu naturel et expérimental à l'age scolaire.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relation between quality of mother-child interaction in a lab and home setting, and quality of attachment of school-age children. A second objective of the study is to evaluate the associations between quality of mother-child interactions, attachment and maternal psychosocial measures (social support, depression, and parental stress). Security of attachment (Separation-Reunion procedure, Main & Cassidy, 1988) and the quality of mother-child interaction was evaluated for a sample of 38 children (mean age = 6 years). Mothers also completed self-report measures for depression, stress, and social support. Concurrent to the lab assessment, quality of mother-child interaction was also evaluated during a home visit. Results indicated a strong association between interactive patterns in both settings. Moreover, interactive patterns differed in terms of attachment classification with secure children showing the most harmonious patterns and disorganized/controlling children showing the most dysfunctional patterns. Maternal psychosocial measures were not related to child security of attachment, but mothers of insecure children reported marginally more stress related to the child. Maternal psychosocial adjustment was, in part, related to dyadic mother-child interaction in the home and lab setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult attachment security and symptoms of depression: The mediating roles of dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem.

Three studies investigated the relation between adult attachment security and symptoms of depression. Study 1 examined the overall magnitude of the association between adult attachment and depression, and Studies 2 and 3 tested whether this relation was mediated by dysfunctional attitudes and low self-esteem. Results from the three studies were consistent with a mediation model. This model suggests that insecure adult attachment styles are associated with dysfunctional attitudes, which in turn predispose to lower levels of self-esteem. Such depletions in self-esteem are directly associated with increases in depressive symptoms over time. Insecure attachment appears to lead to depressive symptoms in adulthood through its impact on self-worth contingencies and self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the object relations theory of depression.

The current study investigated a particular aspect shared by a number of theories of depression under the common heading of object relations theory (ORT), namely that depression is associated with a continuing pattern of poor attachment that is laid out in childhood and continues into adulthood. The study examined the relationship between attachment (both parental and peer) and depressive symptoms in young adults (N = 85) of Northern Ireland. Results provided support for the continuity of perceptions of attachment styles across the life span and revealed that perceptions of early attachment experiences, as well as continuing peer attachment styles, appeared to be predictive of current depressive symptoms. More specifically, the analyses revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between perceived quality of current peer attachment and symptoms of depression, as well as a statistically significant negative correlation between self-reported childhood maternal care and symptoms of depression. However, other self-reported measures of childhood attachment were not found to be significant predictors of depressive symptoms (i.e., paternal care, maternal overprotection, paternal overprotection). Taken together, the findings lend some support for this important element of a number of object relations theories, as they pertain to depression. Further empirical research is indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal depression and the quality of early attachment: An examination of infants, preschoolers, and their mothers.

Relations between maternal depression and attachment security among 50 infant–mother and 54 preschool child–mother dyads were examined using the classification system of M. D. S. Ainsworth, M. C. Blehar, E. Waters, and S. Wall (1978) and M. Main and J. Solomon (1990) for infants and the Preschool Assessment of Attachment (P. M. Crittenden; see record 1993-01051-001) for preschoolers. Attachment insecurity was significantly associated with maternal depression among infants and preschoolers. Furthermore, children without unitary, coherent attachment strategies tended to have more chronically impaired mothers than did children with coherent, organized attachment strategies. Results stress the importance of severity-chronicity of parental illness in the study of depression and early attachment relations, and that differences between children with and without coherent organized attachment strategies are as clinically informative as are differences between secure and insecure children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children’s inferential styles, 5-HTTLPR genotype, and maternal expressed emotion-criticism: An integrated model for the intergenerational transmission of depression.

The authors tested a model for the intergenerational transmission of depression integrating specific genetic (5-HTTLPR), cognitive (inferential style), and environmental (mother depressive symptoms and expressed-emotion criticism [EE-Crit]) risk factors. Supporting the hypothesis that maternal depression is associated with elevated levels of stress in children’s lives, mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibited higher depressive symptoms across a 6-month multiwave follow-up than mothers with no depression history. In addition, partially supporting our hypothesis, levels of maternal criticism during the follow-up were significantly related to mothers’ current depressive symptoms but not to history of MDD. Finally, the authors found support for an integrated Gene × Cognition × Environment model of risk. Specifically, among children with negative inferential styles regarding their self-characteristics, there was a clear dose response of 5-HTTLPR genotype moderating the relation between maternal criticism and children’s depressive symptoms, with the highest depressive symptoms during the follow-up observed among children carrying 2 copies of the 5-HTTLPR lower expressing alleles (short [S] or long [LG]) who also exhibited negative inferential styles for self-characteristics and who experienced high levels of EE-Crit. In contrast, children with positive inferential styles exhibited low depressive symptoms regardless of 5-HTTLPR genotype or level of maternal criticism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Caretaking behaviors by adolescent children of mothers with and without a history of depression.

In a sample of 72 mothers with and without a history of depression and their adolescent children, maternal depression history, current maternal depressive symptoms, intrusive and withdrawn parental behavior, and adolescent caretaking behaviors were examined as predictors of adjustment in these youth. Two types of caretaking behaviors were examined: emotional (e.g., caring for a parent's emotional distress) and instrumental (e.g., looking after younger siblings). Although adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression were comparable on levels of both types of caretaking, caretaking was associated with adolescents' reports of anxiety–depression and mothers' reports of social competence only for adolescents of mothers with a history of depression. Moreover, regression models showed that among children of mothers with a history of depression, emotional, but not instrumental, caretaking was related to adolescents' anxiety–depression symptoms and social competence after controlling for current parental depressive symptoms and stressful parenting behaviors. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of an intensive depression-focused intervention for smoking cessation in pregnancy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate a depression-focused treatment for smoking cessation in pregnant women versus a time and contact health education control. We hypothesized that the depression-focused treatment would lead to improved abstinence and reduced depressive symptoms among women with high levels of depressive symptomatology. No significant main effects of treatment were hypothesized. Method: Pregnant smokers (N = 257) were randomly assigned to a 10-week, intensive, depression-focused intervention (cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy; CBASP) or to a time and contact control focused on health and wellness (HW); both included equivalent amounts of behavioral and motivational smoking cessation counseling. Of the sample, 54% were African American, and 37% met criteria for major depression. Mean age was 25 years (SD = 5.9), and women averaged 19.5 weeks (SD = 8.5) gestation at study entry. We measured symptoms of depression using the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977). Results: At 6 months posttreatment, women with higher levels of baseline depressive symptoms treated with CBASP were abstinent significantly more often, F(1, 253) = 5.61, p = .02, and had less depression, F(1, 2620) = 10.49, p = .001, than those treated with HW; those with low baseline depression fared better in HW. Differences in abstinence were not retained at 6 months postpartum. Conclusions: The results suggest that pregnant women with high levels of depressive symptoms may benefit from a depression-focused treatment in terms of improved abstinence and depressive symptoms, both of which could have a combined positive effect on maternal and child health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy to reorganize attachment in the young offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder: A randomized preventive trial.

The development of insecure attachment relationships in the offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder (MDD) may initiate a negative trajectory leading to future psychopathology. Therefore, the provision of theoretically guided interventions designed to promote secure attachment is of paramount importance. Mothers who had experienced MDD since their child's birth were recruited (n = 130) and randomized to toddler-parent psychotherapy (DI) or to a control group (DC). Nondepressed mothers with no current or history of major mental disorder and their toddlers also were recruited for a nondepressed comparison group (NC; n = 68). Children averaged 20.34 months of age at the initial assessment. Higher rates of insecure attachment were present in both the DI and the DC groups at baseline, relative to the NC group. At postintervention, at age 36 months, insecure attachment continued to predominate in the DC group. In contrast, the rate of secure attachment had increased substantially in the DI group and was higher than that for the DC and the NC groups. These results demonstrate the efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy in fostering secure attachment relationships in young children of depressed mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors and pathways from infancy to symptoms of anxiety and depression in early adolescence.

Data from a prospective 11-year longitudinal survey were used to identify early predictors and pathways to symptoms of anxiety and depression at 12–13 years of age, and to examine whether there were unique predictors of anxious versus depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling was used to explore longitudinal relations between contextual (maternal distress, family adversities, and social support) and temperamental (shyness and emotionality) risk factors in their prediction of informant-consistent symptoms of anxiety and depression. The results show that early risk factors can explain 38% of the variance in boys’ covarying symptoms of anxiety and depression in early adolescence, and 25% of variance in girls’ covarying symptoms. Two main pathways were identified. One pathway was through temperament, as nearly all risk factors were partly mediated through child emotionality in midchildhood. Another pathway was through early contextual risk factors, with all direct and indirect contextual impact from before 5 years of age. Family adversity uniquely predicted depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the persisting impact of contextual predictors in families with children less than 5 years of age. The importance of early interventions to prevent adolescent internalizing problems is stressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reciprocal models of child behavior and depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers in a sample of children at risk for early conduct problems.

Although much has been written about transactional models in the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used this approach to examine how child behavior might be related to parental well-being. This study used latent growth curve modeling to test transactional models of age 2 child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, and age 4 internalizing and externalizing behaviors using a subsample of families in the Early Steps Multisite Study. In unconditional models, maternal depressive symptoms showed a linear decrease from child ages 2 to 4, whereas paternal depression did not show significant change. Observed child noncompliance at age 2 showed significant associations with concurrent reports of maternal depressive symptoms and trend-level associations with paternal depressive symptoms. For both parents, higher levels of initial depressive symptoms were related to increased age 4 child internalizing behaviors. The findings provide support for reciprocal process models of parental depression and child behavior, and this study is one of the first to present empirical evidence that fathers' depressive symptoms have bidirectional associations with their children's behavior in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive symptoms among physically abused and psychiatrically disturbed children.

Examined the relation of physical abuse and depressive symptoms among 79 6–13 yr old child psychiatric inpatients. Childhood depression, hopelessness, and self-esteem were assessed through questionnaire or interview measures administered to the children. 79 25–52 yr old mothers or maternal guardians also completed measures to evaluate their children's dysfunction. As predicted, the 33 physically abused children, compared with the 46 nonphysically abused patient controls, evinced significantly lower self-esteem and greater depression and negative expectations toward their futures. Among abused children, those with both past and current abuse showed more severe symptoms of depression that did those with either past or current abuse only. The differences in depressive symptoms between abused and nonabused children could not be accounted for by differences in child psychiatric diagnosis, age, race, gender, IQ, or severity of psychopathology or parent psychiatric diagnoses, marital, or SES. Results suggest that physical abuse, at least for a psychiatric patient sample, is related to symptoms of depression. The possible basis for this relation and the treatment implications are discussed. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tightly linked systems: Reciprocal relations between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal reports of adolescent externalizing behavior.

The frequently observed link between maternal depressive symptoms and heightened maternal reporting of adolescent externalizing behavior was examined from an integrative, systems perspective using a community sample of 180 adolescents, their mothers, fathers, and close peers, assessed twice over a 3-year period. Consistent with this perspective, the maternal depression–adolescent externalizing link was found to reflect not simply maternal reporting biases, but heightened maternal sensitivity to independently observable teen misbehavior as well as long-term, predictive links between maternal symptoms and teen behavior. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted relative increases over time in teen externalizing behavior. Child effects were also found, however, in which teen externalizing behavior predicted future relative increases in maternal depressive symptoms. Findings are interpreted as revealing a tightly linked behavioral-affective system in families with mothers experiencing depressive symptoms and teens engaged in externalizing behavior and further suggest that research on depressive symptoms in women with adolescent offspring should now consider offspring externalizing behaviors as a significant risk factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity, and child functioning at 36 months.

Women (N?=?1,215) and their infants were followed from birth, and maternal reports of depressive symptoms were obtained at 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months. Women who never reported symptoms of depression were compared with those who reported symptoms sometimes or chronically. Women with chronic symptoms of depression were the least sensitive when observed playing with their children from infancy through 36 months. Children whose mothers reported feeling depressed performed more poorly on measures of cognitive-linguistic functioning and were rated as less cooperative and more problematic at 36 months. Depression-group differences in school readiness and verbal comprehension were accounted for by maternal sensitivity. Depression-group differences in expressive language and ratings of cooperation were moderated by maternal sensitivity; maternal sensitivity predicted better outcomes more noticeably among children whose mothers reported feeling depressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational Transmission of Depression: Test of an Interpersonal Stress Model in a Community Sample.

An interpersonal stress model of depression transmission was tested in a community sample of nearly 800 depressed and never-depressed women and their 15-year-old children. It was hypothesized that maternal depression (and depression in the maternal grandmother) contributed to chronic interpersonal stress in the mothers, affecting quality of parenting and youths' social competence. In turn, poor social functioning and interpersonal life events caused at least in part by the youths were predicted to be the proximal predictors of current depressive symptoms and diagnoses. Structural equation modeling confirmed the predicted associations among variables and the link between youth chronic and episodic interpersonal stress and depression. Additionally, the association between maternal and child depression was entirely mediated by the predicted family and interpersonal stress effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms in adolescents

The relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and rates of adolescent (15-16 years) depressive symptoms was studied in a birth cohort of 934 New Zealand children. There was a clear correlation between maternal depressive symptoms and subsequent depressive symptoms in adolescent females (r = .44) but no association (r = -.01) between maternal depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms in adolescent males. Subsequent analysis suggested that the correlation between maternal depression and depressive symptoms in adolescent females was largely explained by the associations of both measures with a series of social and contextual factors including social disadvantage, marital discord and family adversity. It is concluded that maternal depression is only associated with depression in adolescence insofar as maternal depression is associated with social disadvantage, marital discord or family adversity.     

Attitudes toward depression among rehabilitation participants with acute stroke: Evidence of an age cohort effect.

Purpose/Objective: Depression is commonplace after acute stroke and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. No data exist regarding attitudes about depression among older persons with acute stroke and their potential impact on self-report of depressive symptoms. The objective of this study was to determine if attitudes toward depression affect depression symptom reporting. Research Method/Design: Cross-sectional using data from an inpatient rehabilitation unit. Seventy-two people with acute stroke were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward depression as part of a larger battery assessing their cognitive and emotional functioning. Results: Both age and cognitive status were significant predictors of attitudes toward depression. Older participants expressed significantly more negative attitudes about depression and seeking professional help compared with younger participants. Those with higher cognitive scores held more positive attitudes. However, attitudes about depression were unrelated to participants' responses on self-report measures of depression. Conclusions/Implications: Participants with stroke who were older were more likely to report negative attitudes about depressive symptoms than were younger participants. However, these attitudes do not appear to represent a barrier to their ability to accurately report the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal associations between emotion regulation and depression in preadolescent girls: Moderation by the caregiving environment.

Identifying childhood precursors for depression has been challenging and yet important for understanding the rapid increase in the rate of depression among adolescent girls. This study examined the prospective relations of preadolescent girls’ emotion regulation and parenting style with depressive symptoms. Participants were 225 children and their biological mothers recruited from a larger longitudinal community study. Girls’ observed positive and negative emotion during a conflict resolution task with mothers, their ability to regulate sadness and anger, and their perception of parental acceptance and psychological control were assessed at age 9. Depressive symptoms were assessed by self-report at ages 9 and 10. The results indicated interactions between child emotion characteristics and parenting in predicting later depression. Specifically, low levels of positive emotion expression predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms in the context of moderate to high parental psychological control. Low levels of sadness regulation were predictive of high levels of depressive symptoms in the context of low to moderate parental acceptance. Findings from this study support the hypothesis that the prospective association between vulnerabilities in emotion regulation and depression are moderated by the caregiving environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prospective study of stress autonomy versus stress sensitization in adolescents at varied risk for depression.

This longitudinal study investigated the stress autonomy, stress sensitization, and depression vulnerability hypotheses in adolescents across 6 years (i.e., Grades 6 through 12). Participants were 240 children (Time 1 mean age = 11.86, SD = 0.57) who varied in risk for depression on the basis of their mother's history of mood disorders. All analyses were conducted as multilevel models to account for nesting in the data. Results were consistent with the stress sensitization hypothesis. The within-subject relation of stress levels to depressive symptoms strengthened with increasing numbers of prior depressive episodes. In addition, evidence consistent with the vulnerability hypothesis was found. The relation of stress levels to depressive symptoms was stronger for adolescents who were at risk for depression on the basis of maternal depression history and for those who had experienced more depressive episodes through Grade 12. These findings suggest that onsets of depression in adolescents may be predicted by both relatively stable and dynamic transactions between stressful life events and vulnerabilities such as maternal depression and youths' own history of depressive episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in the longitudinal relations among family risk factors and childhood externalizing symptoms.

Despite potential sex differences in base rates, predictors, and maintaining processes for children's externalizing behaviors, little prospective research has examined sex differences in the relations between concurrent, proximal family risk factors and children's externalizing behaviors. The current study examined the relations among maternal depressive symptoms, maternal parenting behaviors (i.e., negativity and low warmth), and child externalizing symptoms at 24 months and first grade in a community-based sample of 1,364 children enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Structural equation modeling revealed that maternal depression and negative parental behaviors were associated with concurrent externalizing behaviors, though maternal depression may be differentially linked to boys' and girls' externalizing problems. The relation between depression and boys' externalizing symptoms was more pronounced at 24 months, and over time, the relation between maternal depression and boys' externalizing symptoms decreased in magnitude, whereas this relation increased among girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)